A cacophony of words, a rage of similes, and a dash of awkward poetry. You know, to keep it classy.

Tag Archives: NetFlix

Recently, I was listening to a podcast by a friend of mine, in which she and her husband discuss pop culture tidbits and other awesomeness. I enjoy listening to podcasts to and from work, because it makes the drive go by faster and it makes me feel like I have friends in the car (it gets lonely, guys).

In the episode that I listened to the other day, though, my friend’s husband was discussing a book that he wrote (props to him, man) in which the main villain was an evil doctor. Because of this, he was referred to as The Doctor throughout the book, which caused a lot of negative feedback from people who are super fans of Doctor Who.

Now, fans of Doctor Who, or Whovians, are a special kind of fan, in that they are obsessive to the point of crazy, and highly defensive of negative ideas or portrayals of pretty much any character from the show (even villains can cause a soft spot in Doctor Who – Whovian life is not always black and white).

Because of this obsessiveness, I can completely see people taking his story the wrong way, being offended that the villain is called The Doctor (“How dare you use that name for someone evil!”), and hurt by the fact that he didn’t know that in Doctor Who, the main character is referred to as The Doctor, which is common knowledge for people who have see the show (but not common knowledge for anyone else).

Original photo co. BBCAlso, I just re-watched “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”, and I absolutely love this line.

Now, I personally identify with Whovians, because I love a good story (and they really are fantastic in Doctor Who), but I can also see where he was coming from. Fans of Doctor Who can be crazy, and that can be a huge turn off.

I myself was hesitant to start watching Doctor Who at first, because I knew people who were so crazy in love with the show that I couldn’t imagine it to be that good, and I would only end up disappointed. I’ve been burned by crazy fans before (a former roommate told me to read Twilight, because “the story is kind of lame, but the writing is really good”. Lies.), and I wasn’t really looking to put myself out there for a show that I wasn’t already attached to.

So I get it – crazy fans are crazy, and they can easily turn people off of a show, movie, comic, book, whatever. It’s a fine line being a fan of something. You have to ease people into it, like stepping into a hot bath – dip their toes with a clip or two, and hope that it is comfortable enough for them to want to slip in.

The thing about fandoms is, people are always going to be fanatical about them. That’s the point – they love this thing so much that they can’t help but want to push it onto you too – they want to share their wonder with the people around them, so they can wonder together.

But shows are not the fandom – the boy who builds his own life-size dalek, the couple who have a Star Trek wedding at Comic Con, or the girl who writes erotic fanfiction of Supernatural and tries to publish it – they are not a representative of the thing itself, or even the fandom. They are the extremes.

So please, don’t judge a thing by it’s fandom – you could be missing out on something life-changing.

So, my job entails a lot of social media posting/tweeting/trolling, and occasionally I get mind-trapped by strange articles with odd headlines (read this blog entry about an article on blue balls, if you think this is a weird tendency).

While searching for relevant things to post, I came across an article about a couple that flew to Hawaii to give birth with dolphins. Seriously, this is the new way for rich people to spend their money. Now, I’ve heard of the benefits of having a water birth, but something is seriously wrong with trying to justify giving birth among dolphins. That is not what dolphins are for.

And all throughout the article, I couldn’t help but think about this episode of the Simpsons:

Yes, that screen says “Killer Dolphins.” Don’t believe me?

And this happened:

KILLER DOLPHINS, motherfucker.

No, I do not believe that I will be having a dolphin-assisted birth any time soon.

Not in the I’m-against-God kind of way, but in the I-don’t-want-to-be-referred-to-as-a-God. We’ll get to that later.

I recently had the following facebook conversation with a friend of mine who claims to be a Whedon fan, but had only just now watched Buffy.

He may not like it, but Joss Whedon creates universes like a god, and will be treated as such.

I thought we were funny, so I tweeted this picture to Joss Whedon, in the vain hope that he would find it funny and retweet it (I still have yet to be retweeted by a celebrity, and I’m sorry if that was a spoiler to the rest of the story).

And then this happened:

Come on, Whedon, at least call me out by name!

I still love Whedon, but come on, if you’re going to call me out, at least use my name! Even a “thanks, but no thanks” response would have made me unbearably giddy.

While on a business trip to Columbus, OH (oh, how the excitement builds in my life), my boss and I decided that, after our complimentary drinks at the hotel bar, it would be a good idea to get dessert.

Enter The Cheesecake Factory, which we had heard about from another coworker and had to find via GPS.

And as soon as we sit down, I notice this.

Sauron will judge you as you eat cheesecake.

I’m not sure what the decorator thought this was, but it is most definitely the eye of Sauron. And he is not happy with your choice of cheesecake.

I finished it anyway, just to spite him. But it was an uncomfortable dessert outing, nonetheless.

Nerds love to create fandoms over things – movies, television shows, actors, whatever. Cool kids generally don’t get it when we make references to weeping angels and Walkers, call ourselves Cumberbabes, and refer to awesome things as “shiny”. Get a NetFlix account and watch these shows – you will finally understand our world and phrases.

Having a huge comeback lately, Doctor Who is not just for nerdy people – cool kids watch it too. Of course, it tends to make you nerd out about the awesome storylines and connections back to previous episodes or seasons, but that’s beside the point. I suggest starting with Blink, and then beginning with the start of the reboot – it will give you an idea of the awesome and help you get past the horrible special effects of the first few seasons.

Forget the US version, the BBC take on Sherlock (written by the same guy who currently writes Doctor Who, if you needed any convincing) has beautifully complex stories and not a few one liners and gay jokes.

The only time you will see me talking positively about a reality show is Face Off. This show is, for a lack of a better word, amazing. It is a reality competition between professional makeup artists, and the things they create are jsut incredible. If you love horror movies and monsters, this is right up your alley.

While technically not on TV, you can find The Guild on NetFlix, so it counts on here. Following the lives of some World of Warcraft-esque nerds, this show is fantastic to watch with people. Each season is less than an hour long, so it’s easy to watch, and there are more than just nerd-funny references.

In case you haven’t noticed, nerds like the BBC (I think it’s the sexy accents). While not generally a show that men would get into, Downton Abbey has a lot of historical elements and snarky remarks by Maggie Smith.